Faith’s tracks are in Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department, as they claim the superstar has crossed the line by going from secular to anti-Christian with many of the lyrics on her latest release.
Religious critics of Swift’s much-hyped album say the singer’s writing implies that Christians are hateful, judgmental and vindictive people.
Shane Pruitt of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board pointed out specific lyrics he found objectionable.
In the song “But Daddy, I Love Him,” for example, Swift sings: “But Daddy, I love him / I just found out that these people only raise you / To cage you / Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best / Grabbing her pearls, sighing, ‘What a mess’ / I just found out that these people are trying to save you because they hate you.’
She goes on to sing, “God save the most critical,” the same people who, she says, “perform self-righteous soliloquies.”
“You don’t have to pray for me,” he continues.
Some leaders of the Christian faith have distanced themselves from Taylor Swift’s new album, claiming it is blasphemous and mocks their faith.
In another song, ‘Guilty As Sin’, the billionaire pop princess sings: ‘What happens if I remove the stone? / They’re going to crucify me anyway / What if the way you hold me is really holy?’
Many of the songs are also labeled ‘E’ for explicit, possibly making them less appropriate for a young Christian audience.
Pruitt, national next generation director of the SBC board of directors, wrote about the line he believes Swift has crossed with her latest work:
‘I’m definitely not the minister or parent who has the ‘no secular music’ stance. Furthermore, I fully understand that unbelievers will act like unbelievers. HOWEVER, there is a difference between being secular and being ANTI-CHRISTIAN,” he wrote.
He added that he has historically been a Swift listener, but thinks now may be “time to reconsider.”
‘As Christians, who are filled with the Spirit, should we entertain ourselves, sing, and expose our children to lyrics that are not only different from what they believe, but actually mock what they believe?’ she questioned.
Pruitt isn’t the only loyal entertainment consumer who found a major flaw in Swift’s latest offering.
MovieGuide, a Christian entertainment review company, declares that the Department of Tortured Poets “makes a mockery of Christianity.”
“While it’s no secret that Taylor Swift is not a Christian, she made her hatred for religion known through her newly released album ‘The Tortured Poets Department,'” the MovieGuide review reads.
“The album is full of minor jokes that elevate Swift above God while also featuring two songs dedicated to tearing down Christian sexual ethics.”
Religious leader Shane Pruitt questioned Swift’s Tortured Poets Department in a Facebook post he titled ‘LETTERS MATTER’
Then the review became personal.
‘The fact that one of the most popular and famous celebrities of his generation cannot find happiness reveals that living in the world leads to death, while living for Christ and under his teachings leads to life.
“Unfortunately, Swift has chosen the path to death and is reaping the fruits of her labor.”
Swift’s album, which arrived with a surprise 15-song bonus 10 days ago, has been adored by fans and some critics alike, but it wasn’t received uniformly well, with some claiming the hitmaker’s rushed double album lacks of creativity and shows immaturity as an artist.
A Paste magazine review, which removed the writer’s name from the article due to the almost certain threat of unhinged hostility from Swift’s fan militia, said that Swift has been unable to avoid creatively “infantilizing” the very people she buy their music and push their hits up first.
The anonymous author claims that The Tortured Poets Department’s song of the same name “featured some of Swift’s worst lyricism to date.”
Despite some less than positive reviews for TTPD, Swift’s album has already seen massive commercial success and record-breaking streaming numbers.
However, the Department of Tortured Poets was an immediate hit with consumers. It sold around 1.4 million copies on the Friday of its release and was streamed on Spotify more than 300 million times in a single day.
The author went on to ponder whether Swift, a newly named Forbes billionaire, is still capable of experiencing “torture” of the kind she writes about on this album.
“If Swift can return to one of her dozens of beach houses around the world, put her feet up and say, ‘I’m a struggle poet,’ then who’s to say that millions – perhaps billions – of people with access to some notes. Won’t an app and a social media account dream that dream too? read the review.
However, the Department of Tortured Poets was an immediate hit with consumers. It sold around 1.4 million copies on the Friday of its release and was streamed on Spotify more than 300 million times in a single day. The album’s first single, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, also broke several records.
On Sunday, Billboard announced that Swift’s album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her 14th No. 1 album, tying her for the most among solo artists. TTPD also received the most streams in a week for an album.